Too much podium, too little tower

Details revealed for 269-foot-tall high rise in L.A.’s Koreatown

Jamison Services and LARGE Architecture are moving forward with plans for a 23-story mixed-use tower in Los Angeles's Koreatown neighborhood. (Courtesy Los Angeles Department of City Planning)

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The proposal, referred to as 2900 Wilshire in the documentation and initially pitched as a 31-story tower, will contain 644 residential units, 10,000 square feet of commercial space, 5,500 square feet of restaurant space, and 1,124 parking stalls. Those parking stalls will be located in a six-story, above-ground parking podium that will also contain 724 bicycle parking spots. The project, designed by Los Angeles–based Large Architecture, will also contain 64,550 square feet of open spaces and amenities, including an expansive rooftop terrace. The new complex will be located across the street from Lafayette Park and will be but a few blocks from the Wilshire / Vermont subway stop on the city’s Purple and Red Lines, a confusing fact considering the high parking ratio for the project.

North Elevation of 2900 Wilshire. (Courtesy Los Angeles Department of City Planning)

Renderings included in the LADCP report indicate that the 269-foot tall, amorphous, L-shaped tower will feature rounded corners and be clad in a variegated pattern made up of glass walls and what look to be metal panels that will act as exaggerated mullions. The tower will sit atop an articulated parking and apartment podium and be set back from the street front along Wilshire Boulevard. The tower will come down to street level at the southern edge of the site, where it will meet the lot line at the sidewalk. The tower and apartments will be made up of 227 studio units, 293 one-bedroom units, and 124 two-bedroom units.

West Elevation of 2900 Wilshire. (Courtesy Los Angeles Department of City Planning)

The project marks another step in the steady increase in the number of high-density, large-scale mixed-use projects along the Wilshire Corridor as construction ramps up on the city’s Purple Line extension to Century City. A firm construction start date for 2900 Wilshire has not yet been announced, but the building is expected to finish construction 32 months after groundbreaking. Work on the Purple Line extension is well underway, with the first phase of the extension due to be completed in 2023.